


When All this Hero Stuff is Over

by PeachSSodaPop



Series: Peach's Loz Fics [6]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, He speaks in the entirety of this though, Link remembers his past, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), because it focuses on people he's close to, but it's mentioned, but it's only very slightly mentioned at the end, i wrote this in one sitting ate dinner and then edited, link is trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 11:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20741612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachSSodaPop/pseuds/PeachSSodaPop
Summary: While Zelda and Link are walking around Hyrule castle they find Link's old room.





	When All this Hero Stuff is Over

Calamity Ganon was defeated and Zelda and Link had taken a much deserved vacation in Kakariko for a while. However Hyrule still had plenty of work to be done. Currently the duo found themselves back in Hyrule castle assessing the damage. 

Zelda was mostly leading Link around as she remembered the layout of the castle. Link had explored the castle several times but found it astonishingly easy to get lost and end up in the library over and over again. 

As Zelda lead him down a hallway they found an area where the rubble seemed to have shifted recently. Link reasoned it must have been during his fight with Ganon. 

"Oh Link, that‘s your room!" Zelda said and started working to shift away the last bits of rubble blocking a door. That piqued Link‘s interest and he began assisting the princess. It didn‘t take long before the rubble was cleared and the duo walked in.

The room wasn‘t too large but it was certainly more than he would have expected for someone who was just a knight.

"This was really my room?" He asked, his voice quiet as he got used to talking to the princess again.He had never cursed his selective mutism as much as he had the moment he had tried to first talk to the princess and nothing came out. The look on Zelda‘s face had broken his heart as he kept trying.

"Yes, since you were my personal knight and the hero of Hyrule you were of a high enough status that you received your own room." Zelda explained, "Now go on look around I‘m sure something you’ll want has survived," 

Link nodded and began wandering around the room. A bed sat in the right corner away from the door, it was covered in so much dust he couldn‘t tell what color the blanket had been. In the corner across from it was a simple desk. He walked over and ran his fingers over the wood. Suddenly he stopped as a memory took him over.

_"My son, getting his own room in the castle. Who‘da thought," His Dad said ruffling his hair as he hauled some wood. Link carried the other half of their haul next to him a big grin on his face._

_"Little disappointing they‘re only giving you a bed though for the room. No problem though, your old man knows a thing or two about building furniture. Your Ma wouldn‘t accept anyone else‘s work," _

_The two put all the pieces of wood on Link‘s floor. His father had already cut all the pieces for a desk beforehand. They had been meant to be made into a desk a few years ago, however before it could be put together Link had been whisked away to Castle Town to begin knight training. His father smiled proudly at him and began teaching him how to put the desk together._

_"You‘ll probably have to buy the rest of your furniture. Hylia knows neither of us have the time to make anymore. When all this hero stuff is over I‘m sure as hell teaching you how to cut the wood," _

_"I‘m holding you up to that," Link replied with a smile._

_"You better," _

The memory ended and Link was still standing in the same position as before. Zelda was next to him and anxious look on her face. He blinked and moved his hand from the table. 

"Link! Are you okay?" Zelda cried out "You suddenly went really still and wouldn‘t respond to me," 

"Yeah I‘m fine," Link lied, the words, 'when all this hero stuff is over‘ playing over and over in his head, "Just a memory,"

"That‘s a relief," Zelda said and Link could see all the stress leave her body. 

He decided to head to the other side of the room. There was a closet and Link opened it. There were several tunics hanging, they were dusty like everything else but miraculously free of bugs. As Link thought about it, he realized that the whole castle was free of bugs and rodents. He chalked it up to the calamity keeping them away. As he looked through the tunics he noticed most of them were green. 

"You told me that when you were a kid you were fascinated by the stories of the old heroes of Hyrule and ended up buying mostly green tunics." Zelda piped up. Link nodded along and took a few of the tunics out and folded them up. He hadn‘t grown at all in the months between waking up and defeating Ganon, so they were sure to fit. 

When he was done with the tunics he noticed a box in the corner of the closet. He moved it out and pulled up the lid. Inside were an insane amount of letters. As he quickly looked them over he was amazed to find that there were only three different hand writings. One belonged to his father, it was big and a bit messy. Another belonged to Mipha, her handwriting small and neat. The third belonged to someone named Aryll, who had loopy handwriting that switched between neat and messy. His curiosity was too much and he began searching for every letter sent by Aryll. It was easier said than done as they easily made up the largest amount of letters, the letters never seeming to end. Whoever Aryll was they certainly had much more time on their hands than his father and Mipha.

"What‘s so special about that person?" Zelda asked. 

"I don‘t know, did I ever mention an Aryll?"

"I..I don‘t think so," Zelda replied after a few moments of thinking.

Link was growing more confused by the second as he continued pulling out letter after letter. It felt like ages before he had managed to pull out every last letter that had been signed with Aryll. He quickly started reading through the letters.

Dad finally got to come visit today. It‘s so lonely around the house without y‘all. I started babysitting for people in town.

_Remember when we first met. You were soaking wet because you had been playing with your friend Mipha. You both came up to meet me and I had been so scared of her I hid behind Dad. Then Dad explained that he had adopted me and I was your new little sister. You had been so happy, you had immediately invited me to play with y‘all. I asked if Mipha was nice, what a silly question, she wouldn‘t hurt a fly._

_I heard you have been assigned Princess Zelda‘s personal knight. Congratulations! I‘ve been bragging to everyone in town that my big brother is the princesses personal knight._

_When all this hero stuff is over, you should come home. At least for a little bit. We can cook dinner together just like we used to._

Link didn‘t realize he was crying until he felt Zelda wrap her arms around him. He put the letters down and wiped away the tears, trying to not begin sobbing.

"So who‘s Aryll?"

"My little sister. She...she was my little sister. She might have died during the Calamity and it‘s all my fault," Link said then immediately a sob wracked his body. Zelda pulled him into a hug whispering things Link couldn‘t hear and rubbing his back. It took him awhile to calm down but eventually he ran out of tears to shed.

"Do you want to leave for now?" Zelda asked him and Link shook his head. 

He grabbed all of Aryll‘s letters and put them back into the box, then put the box next to the tunics. He headed over to a small bookshelf next. He started pulling out the books one by one. He‘d read the back and either put it in the pile or hand it to Zelda to see if she was interested. For a while it took his mind off things reading summary after summary until he got to a book that didn‘t have a title or summary. He opened it up and found it to be full of drawings. There were several of his father, Mipha and other various Zora, including a young child who he instantly recognized as Bazz. There were also a lot of drawings of a young girl. 

"Aryll," he whispered so only he could hear.

He kept slowly flipping through the pages not hearing Zelda put down the last book and scoot closer.

"You were always such a talented artist. I grew so angry when I first learned. You were a talented knight, cook, and artist. It wasn‘t until we grew closer and I saw your handwriting for the first time I realized how foolish that was. I had assumed you were perfect but one look at your handwriting tells a different story,"

Link pouted, "It‘s not that bad,"

"Oh yes it is Link. The time I got sick while we were visiting the Zora‘s domain you had to send a letter explaining our extended stay. No one in the castle could read it and they had to send for your father in hopes he could read it," Zelda said chucking a little. 

Link blushed, "Ok, I guess it‘s pretty bad,"

Link closed the book and put it in his ever growing pile. He then grabbed the final book on the bookshelf. It was old and worn, obviously he had really loved this book. In fancy writing across the front it said ‘The Heroes of Hyrule’. Despite the covers obvious wear the pages had been kept pristine. He flipped through a few pages and bits and pieces of memories came back to him. The book had been a birthday present from his father. He had enjoyed the tales so much he had named himself after the heroes. A small smile spread across his face.

"Oh what‘s that book?" Zelda asked. 

"A book in the heroes. You‘re right I really did love the stories of them. Never imagined I‘d be one of them," He stood up and gathered all the things in the pile, "I think I‘m ready to leave now. I believe I‘ve gotten everything that matters,"

Zelda nodded and the two left the room. Zelda shut the door behind them and they headed back the way they‘d come from.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
